Moored in the port of Lerici, Midva – a beautiful sailboat with a long history behind it – is
almost ready to sail for the second edition of an important solidarity training initiative.
Almost ready because Midva needs a new engine and some carpentry work to repair a leak and waterways between the hull and deck.

Sail the Children, on the other hand, is the name of the educational solidarity project conceived by Davide Besana – writer, illustrator, lifelong sailor, regatta winner, and beloved for sailing and cooking comics – and the Lega Navale Italiana Lerici section.

The project aims to involve boys and girls from Save the Children‘s ā€˜Punti Luceā€™, high-density educational day care centers that arise in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods and suburbs of cities to provide free training and educational opportunities for boys, girls and adolescents between the ages of 6 and 17.

Goals of Sail the Children: the enhancement of these young people’s self-esteem, teamwork, trust in institutions and civil society through teaching the rudiments of the art of sailing and drawing.

Back in the summer of 2022, Davide joined Midva on a sea trip of over two thousand miles called “One Hundred Days in the Tyrrhenian Sea,” teaching 300 boys and girls who attend Save the Children and Lega Navale Italiana’s Punti Luce what he knows best: painting and sailing.

He met them in Ostia, Ventotene, Procida, Naples, Scalea, Tropea, Palermo, Olbia, Caprera, Maddalena, Castelsardo and Genoa, and together they had intense experiences, the kind that leave a mark. Experiences for these and other young people to relive next
summer.

SAIL THE CHILDREN IS JUST WAITING TO SAIL!

In order to fund Sail the Children and with the valuable support of the Italian Naval League, Besana started a fundraising campaign on the solidarity crowdfunding platform Produzioni dal Basso.

fundraising campaign

I care very much about this project. I care about it for the many boys and girls at Save the Children’s Punti Luce and Lega Navale Italiana for whom I want to organize workshops, teach the fundamentals of drawing and comics, and to whom I will transfer the basic rules of safety at sea, environmental protection and respect, and the main concepts of navigation. I will make Midva available for them to navigate alongside me, instilling in them the pleasure of teamwork, comparing our experiences and sharing, as we did last year, many moments of smiles and lightheartedness.Davide Besana

As a thank you, David will mention on his Illustrated Logbook 2023, which will be published at the end of the trip, the name of anyone who would like to help him crown this ambitious project through a donation.

THE SHIP WILL SAIL…

only if Davide and Lega Navale Italiana can raise enough money to finance the purchase of a 20-horsepower, three-cylinder Yanmar engine (ā‚¬12.000 approx., installation included) and hull and deck maintenance work (ā‚¬5.000 approx.).

JOINING THE CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN IS SUPER EASY, just click HERE and make a donation.